44,000 Afghans await relocation

ISLAMABAD:

At least 44,000 Afghans approved for relocation to Western nations following the Taliban's return to power are still waiting in limbo in Pakistan, the Foreign Office said on Thursday.

Spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that three years after the Taliban takeover, there were still 25,000 Afghans approved for relocation to the US living in Pakistan.

A further 9,000 Afghans resident in Pakistan have been accepted by Australia, as have 6,000 by Canada, 3,000 by Germany and more than 1,000 by Britain  'all yet to be relocated.

'We have urged them to expedite the approval and visa issuance process for these countries, for these individuals, so that they are relocated as early as possible,'Baloch told reporters at a weekly press briefing.

She called upon the Indian government to cease its campaign of extrajudicial killings and indiscriminate use of lethal force against the Kashmiri people in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.